The Marquesas

View of the inside of Marquesas Island

We set off from Key West in tandem with our friend Norm and his crew on Feb.9th to head west 30 miles to the Marquesas--a small group of protected and uninhabited islands. After about 6 hours on the water we arrived and dinghied in to check out the beach. I found hundreds of small hermit crabs, lovely driftwood, turquoise waters, and birds.Most surprisingly, I stumbled upon two boats abandoned presumably by Cuban refugees. A few days later, we were told by park rangers that if the Cubans successfully avoid the 'Coasties' (Coast Guard) and put a foot on these islands, they are offered political asylum. We hope these refugees survived.


Spent a quiet night at anchor and then headed 40 miles west to the Dry Tortugas. While under sail, Barry set a fishing pole off the back of the boat and caught two Spanish mackerel! Since one of his favorite sayings is 'Holy Mackerel!', this was a fitting catch! I'm not sure how big they were initially, but they keep getting bigger (if you know what I mean:) He cleaned them and they provided several meals for us and our friends!

Holy Mackerel!

While under sail, there are chores to do (as long as the water isn't too rough). I decided to tackle polishing the stainless--a necessary evil in salt water. Fortunately, the water got rough and I just had to stop. Too bad.